Duke Master of Management Studies Student BlogAshima Sehgal – Duke Master of Management Studies Student Bloghttps://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms
Fuqua Master of Management Studies student perspectiveWed, 30 Nov 2016 20:13:28 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.5.4A Lesson in (Time) Managementhttps://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2014/04/18/ashima/a-lesson-in-time-management/?category=about-mms
https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2014/04/18/ashima/a-lesson-in-time-management/?category=about-mms#respondFri, 18 Apr 2014 13:52:03 +0000http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/?p=4510“I am definitely going to take a course on time management … just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.” – Louis E. Boone This quote very well captures the essence of being in business school, and the single greatest challenge that we, as business students, face – managing our time. When […]

“I am definitely going to take a course on time management … just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.” – Louis E. Boone

This quote very well captures the essence of being in business school, and the single greatest challenge that we, as business students, face – managing our time. When you choose to allocate your time to one activity, you are also actively choosing to not do other things. While this sounded like a trivial issue to us as new students who were easily excitable and willing to put in 20 hours a day at the onset, we quickly learned an important lesson. When we were exposed to the full heat of academics, recruiting, club work and social life, I learned, as my classmate Emma puts it, that I can do everything, but not at the same time. Here are some of the “nuggets of wisdom” that I’ve learned about time management:

Get a planner. Planning out every day and every hour of your day may seem like a very corporate thing to do, but trust me, it’s indispensable when you’re in business school. The most important part of being successful is showing up to the right place at the right time, and not being completely clueless. So get a planner and make notes, or manage your commitments on the calendar on your phone. Having a sense of control over your time will help you feel a lot less overwhelmed.

Get your priorities straight. Getting a 4.0 GPA, becoming president of the club you always wanted to join, picking up an on-campus employment opportunity, landing your dream job, and finding time to socialize and take trips with your friends – this is all an incredible fantasy. The chances are that things won’t turn out to be as you had hoped, and some things will be harder than you were prepared for. You have to prioritize by choosing what is most vital to you, give it all you have, and celebrate your successes instead of obsessing over the battles you lost. Remember what is important!

The lesser evil – budgeting time. It is crucial to budget time for different tasks you have to do during the day. It’s easy to spend 2 hours drafting an assignment and then 4 more hours improving it. Be careful about spending too much time making everything flawless, unless you want to spend 30-40 hours each week working on assignments alone! Everything can’t and won’t be perfect. Sometimes you have to decide what is good enough, and move on to the other things on your plate.

Make the most of your weekends. During my first week in school, I tried to finish all schoolwork during the weekdays, so I’d have time to relax and explore Durham over the weekends. I now know that this was a bad idea. Don’t set unreasonable expectations for yourself. Definitely use weekends to unwind, and have some fun, but it’s also the best time to work ahead. Make sure you celebrate your Friday evenings at Fuqua Friday, but also use at least part of every weekend to prepare for the coming week’s assignments and classes!

Bring together what you have to do with what you want to do. Avoid being in the MMS team rooms for 10 hours a day. When you can, have team meetings in coffee shops, over dinner, or in libraries around campus. If you can’t find any time to discover the campus or Durham because of the workload, then bring them together. It’s not that hard!

Business school definitely keeps you on your toes, but making it an ordeal is your own doing. Get smart about how you use your time, and when you do find that occasional night off with no urgent work or fires to be put out, seize the moment and enjoy it without feeling guilty. It’s a precious, rare gift – make the most of it!

]]>https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2014/04/18/ashima/a-lesson-in-time-management/?category=about-mms/feed0Are you a Fuqua Fit?https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2014/03/12/ashima/are-you-a-fuqua-fit/?category=about-mms
https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2014/03/12/ashima/are-you-a-fuqua-fit/?category=about-mms#respondWed, 12 Mar 2014 15:41:39 +0000http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/?p=4480The final application deadline for Fuqua’s MMS: FOB program, April 1, 2014, is only a couple of weeks away. If you’re still wondering if you fit the bill of the ideal MMS candidate, this post is aimed at breaking the myth that there, in fact, is an “ideal profile” of an MMS student. The most […]

]]>The final application deadline for Fuqua’s MMS: FOB program, April 1, 2014, is only a couple of weeks away. If you’re still wondering if you fit the bill of the ideal MMS candidate, this post is aimed at breaking the myth that there, in fact, is an “ideal profile” of an MMS student.

The most important pillar of Fuqua’s philosophy is the idea of “Team Fuqua.” It doesn’t matter if you’ve studied mathematics, physics or humanities in your undergrad, or if you’ve worked for three years prior to the program or not. If you can be an effective member of Team Fuqua, you belong here. And to show that there isn’t one perfect candidate for the program, we will be introducing you to some of the students of the MMS Class of 2014. First in this series is Kishin Wadhwani.

Introduction: Kishin Wadhwani, a resident of Mountain View, California, went to University of Virginia for his undergrad, where he majored in Foreign Affairs. He is heavily interested in technology and entrepreneurship. In his junior (third) year of school, he had to write a business plan for one of his classes, and received a bad grade on it. However, the entrepreneurship bug caught his fancy and he launched his own e-commerce venture. He decided to come to the MMS program to sharpen his business skills and plug the knowledge gaps.

Q. How did your undergraduate background affect your decision to come to Fuqua?A. I chose to major in Foreign Affairs because I was always keenly interested in comparative political systems. However, it was a theoretical discipline, and while fascinating, I felt the need to supplement it with a practical skillset. Together, politics and business fuel the infrastructure and systems of the world, and this was the common thread of interest for me, triggering my decision to get a business education.

Q. Do you find any synergies in your undergraduate major and the MMS courses?A. Yes – I feel business and foreign affairs are complimentary fields. In addition to the fact that politics and business drive each other in most countries of the world, a study of foreign affairs gives an institutional view of “why people do what they do.” Business gives us the opportunity to explore those decisions at a micro level.

Q. How do you think your undergrad training has impacted your perception of the business world? What are some of the most pressing challenges for our generation?A. In undergrad, we looked at issues from a compartmentalized mindset. However, graduate business education is interdisciplinary, forcing us to take account of problems and consequences from multiple perspectives, and be more empathetic.

The challenge, in my opinion, is the flight towards commoditization. Whether it is a physical product or a service, the chase to the bottom (to achieve highest cost efficiency) has come at the cost of quality. To say that profit maximization is the sole purpose of business would be a pigeonholed point of view. It is striking the balance between competing incentives that’s a challenge for us to solve.

Q. Which skill from your undergrad, in your opinion, has been the most valuable for you in the MMS program so far?A. Working with vast amounts of data, synthesizing and analyzing it in a limited amount of time has definitely been the skill that has been the handiest in the MMS program.

Q. What has been the most effective/ memorable aspect of the program for you so far? What would you change?A. For me, having access to a great network of people – the professors, guest speakers and visitors from the business world – has been the best part of the program. I especially enjoyed the Innovation and Energy panels organized at Fuqua.

Given the volume of work we have with curriculum and recruiting, we have a tendency to limit our community to other Fuqua students. While we have cross-disciplinary networking events, I would like to bring students from all graduate schools at Duke closer together.

]]>https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2014/03/12/ashima/are-you-a-fuqua-fit/?category=about-mms/feed0Networking is like a Game of Ping Pong, Literallyhttps://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/12/26/ashima/networking-is-like-a-game-of-ping-pong-literally/?category=about-mms
https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/12/26/ashima/networking-is-like-a-game-of-ping-pong-literally/?category=about-mms#respondThu, 26 Dec 2013 20:06:00 +0000http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/?p=4322When you’re a graduate student at The Fuqua School of Business, even the fortune cookie that you get with your Chinese takeout food gives you the same advice — “attend receptions, send emails and make yourself memorable.” It’s a concept that we’ve heard over and over again as we learned about professional networking, which was […]

]]>When you’re a graduate student at The Fuqua School of Business, even the fortune cookie that you get with your Chinese takeout food gives you the same advice — “attend receptions, send emails and make yourself memorable.” It’s a concept that we’ve heard over and over again as we learned about professional networking, which was my biggest cultural shock as a student trying to get accustomed to the American way of things.
Playing ping ping with my classmate Chris.

There are a hundred resources, books, and mentors teaching us how to network correctly, but it’s meaningless if you don’t enjoy it. The idea of networking seemed a little awkward to me at first, but there came an interesting twist in the story when one of my favorite things to do in school — playing ping pong (table tennis) — turned into an incredible way for me to meet new people and make new friends.

The ping pong table at Fuqua is almost always occupied, often with 3 – 4 enamored onlookers huddled nearby. Legend has it that the table wasn’t always a part of the business school, and while an old, used table appeared about two years ago, the summer of 2013 saw better days with the addition of a brand new ping pong table and paddles. I began playing to de-stress in the evening with my friend Chris, and the game has now become an indispensable part of my daily schedule. It also affords us bragging rights when we meet students from other graduate schools!

I got to know Chris and others over friendly games of ping pong.

While the competition can sometimes get intense, the games always end the same way — with a friendly handshake. The relationships I have built over this game surprise me at times. I not only made good friends in my program, but even with the first- and second-year Daytime MBA students.

At the ping pong table, I met people who want to work in the same firms as I do, who readily share tips on their job search process, and folks who have experience in the industry that I want to enter who always have a few words of wisdom. I even met some who went to my high school and undergrad in India! Truly, it’s a small world, and there’s no telling what you might learn during a simple game of ping pong.

The pace of graduate school can be overwhelming, so let’s un-complicate some things. Play a game with a stranger, raise a toast to your victory or theirs, and walk away from the table adding one new person to your life. LinkedIn is great. But it just doesn’t match up to a good game of ping pong.

]]>https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/12/26/ashima/networking-is-like-a-game-of-ping-pong-literally/?category=about-mms/feed0There’s a First Time for Everything at Dukehttps://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/11/19/ashima/theres-a-first-time-for-everything-at-duke/?category=about-mms
https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/11/19/ashima/theres-a-first-time-for-everything-at-duke/?category=about-mms#respondTue, 19 Nov 2013 18:25:51 +0000http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/?p=4166If you’re a “How I Met Your Mother” enthusiast like me, you’ll remember one of the golden rules — “new is always better.” As someone who lived in the same city for all her life, and was working 60-hour weeks, it was becoming a bit of a challenge for me to break the routine and […]

]]>If you’re a “How I Met Your Mother” enthusiast like me, you’ll remember one of the golden rules — “new is always better.” As someone who lived in the same city for all her life, and was working 60-hour weeks, it was becoming a bit of a challenge for me to break the routine and try new things — things that were remarkably different. But coming to Duke changes your life in more ways than you can imagine. Whether it’s entering a new building on campus, seeing a wedding in the Duke Chapel, or even trying a new restaurant with friends — I’m constantly doing new things, and the “firsts” never cease! Here are a few of my favorite and significant “firsts!”

1. First Day in Durham

Durham is not New York, so you’ll be mighty disappointed if you expect to find Times Square here. But Durham wins you over pretty quickly with its own charm — thick forests, a beautiful and quaint downtown, and the feeling of community as you run into classmates in coffee shops and cafes. My first day in Durham was spent doing all the chores you’d expect — getting a cell phone connection from AT&T, buying groceries and other household items from Target, and unpacking. At the end of the day, as I headed out for dinner with my new classmates and stepped into a restaurant covered in Blue Devil flags and posters, we knew we had arrived, and it was a feeling like no other!

My entry and kitchen may look empty, but I love having my own space.

2. First Apartment

For many international students like me, this may be the first time living away from home. Daunting as it is, there’s a certain measure of pride I feel when I return to my apartment after a long day. It’s my first apartment, and a place that’s home for at least the next year. Don’t obsess over what it’s missing — enjoy the freedom that an apartment gives you and get creative!

3. First Fuqua Friday

Fuqua Fridays are perhaps the one school tradition that’s closest to our hearts. It’s an evening we spend with people from all across Fuqua, and it’s a great way to kick off the weekend. Our first Fuqua Friday was held at Tyler’s Taproom in downtown Durham instead of school, which is the routine, and was an evening well spent, playing foosball and making new friends!

With my team, after completing our first successful project.

4. First Team Task

“Team Fuqua” is the phrase that captures most of what The Fuqua School of Business stands for. We are teamed with people with different interests, skills, and working preferences to work on academic assignments and other tasks. It’s a stepping-stone to build strong interpersonal skills, and foster the spirit of teamwork. Our first team task was to make a tower as high as possible with PVC pipes, which could support a book at its highest point. Having a civil engineer on the team really helped us build a strong base, and we really bonded as a team.

5. First Baseball Game

Understanding American sports is the first step towards learning American-style small talk. In our third week of school, the Durham Bulls (a minor league baseball team) were playing in downtown Durham, and we went to watch it together as a class. It took only about 30 minutes for me to begin to understand what was really going on. Whether you enjoy sports or just the food, there is no better way to soak up some American culture!

6. First Day at Fuqua

And the finale, the best of them all, was the first day at The Fuqua School of Business, being a part of the MMS: FOB Class of 2014. As they said, “You are here, that means you must have done something right!”

]]>https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/11/19/ashima/theres-a-first-time-for-everything-at-duke/?category=about-mms/feed0My Favorite Part of Fuqua: A Feeling of Belonginghttps://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/10/18/ashima/my-favorite-part-of-fuqua-a-feeling-of-belonging/?category=about-mms
https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/2013/10/18/ashima/my-favorite-part-of-fuqua-a-feeling-of-belonging/?category=about-mms#respondFri, 18 Oct 2013 21:55:53 +0000http://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mms/?p=4074You step inside the doorway, and your heart tingles with excitement. The first thing you see is the hallway with the row of flags from every country represented at Fuqua. You spot the flag of your home country, and are immediately put at ease. “I am in the right place,” you tell yourself, and take […]

You step inside the doorway, and your heart tingles with excitement. The first thing you see is the hallway with the row of flags from every country represented at Fuqua. You spot the flag of your home country, and are immediately put at ease. “I am in the right place,” you tell yourself, and take the next step.

A cheer goes up in one of the classrooms, as the different MBA sections try to one-up each other. You keep walking. Someone, somewhere is walking the halls wearing Duke cowboy boots, and even though you can’t see him, you can feel his energy swelling through your own chest. You see the MMS crowd gathered around the ping-pong table, making casual conversation over lunch or huddled over an assignment. It’s been a few weeks since this routine first started, but still, over all the bustle, you have eyes for only one thing — the big Fuqua School of Business flag in the Fox Center. And every time you look at it, you are relieved. “I must have done something right. I am a part of Team Fuqua.”

This moment, this rush of emotion that I feel every day as I step into the school building, this feeling of being removed from the “ordinary world,” and feeling like I belong at Fuqua — this is my favorite part of Fuqua so far.

Fuqua’s flag binds us together.

Since our very first day, and even before that, the one term we heard from everyone we made eye contact with was “Team Fuqua.” Now that seems a bit of a stretch to an international student still trying to decode the “inscrutable Americans.” For me to understand the full meaning of “Team Fuqua,” I heard definitions, saw PowerPoint slides and heard many moving speeches about what it was like to be a part of Team Fuqua.

About 3 months into the program, and I now understand that Team Fuqua is not something you can express in words. The spirit of Team Fuqua is like a living, breathing thing that you feel as soon as you step through the doors of the school. It’s the adrenaline rush you get when you see a classmate do something well, the SOS mode you automatically enter when you spot someone who needs help, the collective responsibility you feel toward the school and each brick that went into making it. The spirit of Team Fuqua is what binds nations, cultures and languages together in one building. This sprit is what makes miracles happen at Fuqua.